BACKGROUND: Mechanisms involved in brain changes observed in major depression have been poorly investigated in clinical populations. Changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) have been found in depressed patients and constitute a potential mechanism by which brain volume varies in depression. We have tested the association of cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) as assessed with Transcranial Doppler (TCD) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) as assessed with Arterial Spin Labeling Magnetic Resonance Imaging (ASL-MRI) with Total Brain Volume (TBV) and the volume of seven subcortical regions, in currently depressed and long-term remitted patients...

PURPOSE: Propofol is a short-acting medication with fast cognitive and psychomotor recovery. However, patients are usually instructed not to drive a motor vehicle for 24 hours after receiving propofol. The purpose of this article was to review the evidence examining when it is safe to drive after receiving propofol for sedation for diagnostic and surgical procedures. DESIGN: This is a systematic review of the literature. METHODS: A search of the literature was conducted using Google Scholar, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library for the time period 1990 to 2015...

The focused set of new pyrrolidine-2,5-diones as potential broad-spectrum hybrid anticonvulsants was described. These derivatives integrate on the common structural scaffold the chemical fragments of well-known antiepileptic drugs such as ethosuximide, levetiracetam, and lacosamide. Such hybrids demonstrated effectiveness in two of the most widely used animal seizure models, namely, the maximal electroshock (MES) test and the psychomotor 6 Hz (32 mA) seizure model. Compound 33 showed the highest anticonvulsant activity in these models (ED50 MES = 79...

Study Objectives: To compare intraindividually the effects of acute sleep deprivation (ASD) and chronic sleep restriction (CSR) on the homeostatic increase in slow wave activity (SWA) and to relate it to impairments in basic cognitive functioning, that is, vigilance. Methods: The increase in SWA after ASD (40 hours of wakefulness) and after CSR (seven nights with time in bed restricted to 5 hours per night) relative to baseline sleep was assessed in nine healthy, male participants (age = 18-26 years) by high-density electroencephalography...

The neural responses during hyperthermia, once thought of as simple physiological processes (e.g. thermal sensation and regulation), have now been recognized involving more cognitive processes, which would be highly of importance to the management of those occupations during heavy heat exposure. Previous studies have demonstrated altered activity in localized subcortical clusters for thermal sensation and regulation, as well as cortical-cortical activity for behavioral tasks during hyperthermia. However, the involvement of cortical-subcortical activity during hyperthermia has not been investigated...

The clinical education of paramedic students is an international concern. In Australia, student placements are commonly undertaken with local district ambulance services, however these placements are increasingly limited. Clinical placements within inter-professional settings represent an innovative yet underdeveloped area of investigation. This paper addresses that gap by reporting a pilot evaluation of paramedic student clinical placements in a specialised obstetrics setting. Using a case study approach, the evaluation aimed to identify paramedic psychomotor skills that could be practised in this setting, and understand the nature of key learning events...

BACKGROUND: Neuropsychological changes that may occur due to the environmental and psychological stressors of prolonged spaceflight motivated the development of the Cognition Test Battery. The battery was designed to assess multiple domains of neurocognitive functions linked to specific brain systems. Tests included in Cognition have been validated, but not in high-performing samples comparable to astronauts, which is an essential step toward ensuring their usefulness in long-duration space missions...

BACKGROUND: SCN8A mutations have recently been associated with epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders. This study aimed to broaden the phenotypic-spectrum of disease related with SCN8A mutations. METHODS: To identify the pathogenic gene of a Chinese family, in which six members suffered from epilepsy, whole-exome sequencing was performed. In addition, target next-generation sequencing (NGS) was performed on 178 sporadic patients, who had epilepsy of unknown etiology within 6 months after birth...

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder represent 2 different disorders or alternative manifestations of the same disorder. METHODS: The data were collected between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2005. The analyses were conducted between December 21 and December 27, 2010. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed on 25 symptoms assessing depression, mania, and borderline personality disorder from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a large nationally representative sample of the US adult population (N = 34,653)...

Mutations in MECP2 cause Rett syndrome (RTT), an X-linked neurological disorder characterized by regressive loss of neurodevelopmental milestones and acquired psychomotor deficits. However, the cellular heterogeneity of the brain impedes an understanding of how MECP2 mutations contribute to RTT. Here we developed a Cre-inducible method for cell-type-specific biotin tagging of MeCP2 in mice. Combining this approach with an allelic series of knock-in mice carrying frequent RTT-associated mutations (encoding T158M and R106W) enabled the selective profiling of RTT-associated nuclear transcriptomes in excitatory and inhibitory cortical neurons...

Purpose: To compare the fixation of the central venous catheter (CVC) using two suture techniques. Methods: A clinical, analytical, interventional, longitudinal, prospective, controlled, single-blind and randomized study in adult, intensive care unit (ICU) patients. After admission and indication of CVC use, the patients were allocated to the Wing group (n = 35, catheter fixation with clamping wings and retainers) or Shoelace group (n = 35, catheter fixation using shoelace cross-tied sutures around the device)...

OBJECTIVE/BACKGROUND: Variable adherence to prescribed therapies for sleep disorders is commonplace. This study was designed to integrate three available statistical technologies (instrumental variables, residual inclusion, and shrinkage) to allow sleep investigators to employ data on variable adherence in the estimation of the causal effect of treatment as received on clinical outcomes. PATIENTS/METHODS: Using data from the Apnea Positive Pressure Long-term Efficacy Study (APPLES), regression adjustment for observed and unobserved confounders was applied to two primary neurocognitive outcomes, plus two measures of sleepiness...

INTRODUCTION: The ataxia telangiectasia syndrome (AT) is a genetic disease with an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern, with multisystem involvement and a broad clinical spectrum. It is caused by the mutation of the ATM gene, causing reduction or absence of the ATM proteinkinase, altering processes in the cell cycle, DNA repair and apoptosis. The objective of this article is to report the case of a patient with ataxia telangiectasia syndrome, caused by a mutation not previously reported in the literature...

INTRODUCTION: Peroxisomal diseases are a group of monogenic disorders that include defects in peroxisome biogenesis or enzyme dificiencies. Rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata type 1 (RCDP1) belongs to the first group, caused by autosomal recessive mutations on PEX7 gene, encoding for PTS2 receptor. The aims of this report are to describe a genetic disease of low prevalence, explaining its main characteristics and the importance of the diagnostic approach and genetic counseling. CASE REPORT: 13-month-old male infant with no medical history, family or consanguinity, demonstrate at birth upper limbs shortening...

INTRODUCTION: Central Nervous System Vital Signs (CNS VS) is a computerized neuropsychological battery that is translated into many languages. However, published CNS VS' normative data were established over a decade ago, are solely age-corrected, and collected in an American population only. METHOD: Mean performance of healthy Dutch participants on CNS VS was compared with the original CNS VS norms ( N = 1,069), and effects of sociodemographic variables were examined...

In previous studies, we reported that pretreatment with the antioxidant Tempol attenuated the development and expression of cocaine-induced psychomotor sensitization in rats and diminished cocaine-induced oxidative stress (OS) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc), suggesting a potential role for Tempol in interfering with cocaine-related psychomotor sensitization. The aim of the current study was to examine the role of Tempol in reward and reinforcement using the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm...

BACKGROUND: Training of basic laparoscopic psychomotor skills improves both acquisition and retention of more advanced laparoscopic tasks, such as laparoscopic intra-corporeal knot tying (LICK). This randomized controlled trial (RCT) was performed to evaluate the effect of different pre-training programs in hand-eye coordination (HEC) upon the learning curve of LICK. RESULTS: The study was performed in a private center in Asunción, Paraguay, by 60 residents/specialists in gynaecology with no experience in laparoscopic surgery...

BACKGROUND: Literature has shown that obesity, metabolic syndrome and inflammation are associated with depression, however, evidence suggests that these associations are specific to atypical depression. Which of the atypical symptoms are driving associations with obesity-related outcomes and inflammation is unknown. We evaluated associations between individual symptoms of depression (both atypical and non-atypical) and body mass index (BMI), metabolic syndrome components and inflammatory markers...

Service-learning (SL) is one educational methodology that provides students opportunities to practice and refine affective, cognitive and psychomotor skills in a community-based setting. PURPOSE: The aims of this study were: 1) to investigate the impact of SL on physical therapy (PT) students' attitudes and perceived clinical competence when working with older adults, and 2) to evaluate the difference between perceptions of students who developed and implemented the SL activity vs those who implemented only...